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Topic: The mistress (Read 3615 times)

At least that's what the wife calls it. This is my ( way too ) long term project. I've wanted a Cobra since I was about 6, but since Dad never invested in Apple in the 80's, a replica was the only option. It's a Factory Five MKI Roadster. They are up to a MKIV now so that gives you an idea of how long this has been going on. Can't get much done on your own car when your at the track with someone else's. It is nearing completion and would be by now if I would stop tinkering, but that's what we do. Right? Anyway, here's some of the basics..Ford 302 bored .030.overEdelbrock heads and EFI intakeFord Motorsport X303 cam75mm TB and Mass Air with 30lb injectors ( preparing for boost!)Tremec TKO 5 speed turning 3.73 gears in an 8.8 rearCobra 13" front discs, 11" rearHalibrand Cobra III wheels in 17x9 and 17x10.5 with 275/40 and 315/35'sAutometer UltraLite gauges

Never one to leave well enough alone, I've spent far more time making tweaks and parts than actually assembling the car. Not one for a lot of bling and wanting a driver over a show queen, one of the first things I did was to scotchbrite and clear all the chrome for a brushed finish. I'm a fan of the machined, industrial look and this led me to begin making some of my own billet pieces. The billet Kirkham was an inspiration for this too. One of the first of these would be my trans tunnel trim. I chose to make the trans tunnel removable for service and also covered the top with the same material as the dash rather than carpet. This left a transition that needed to be addressed so I made these trim pieces...That began the snowball.

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I'm not saying I'm Batman. I'm just saying we've never been seen in the same room before.

Next up was the rather gaping hole left by the tiny steering shaft poking out of the dash. That just wouldn't do. I had a broken Autometer gauge that had a matching rim so I removed the bezel to make a trim ring. Getting thses apart isn't that easy but once off, I spun up a delrin disc to crimp it back around and then bolt to the dash. Then I chucked up a nice big chunk of Delrin and pulled the stool up to the lathe to make a faux steering column. This is a hand tight press fit on the steering wheel hub and it ends just shy of the trim ring.

This also shows the indicator light bezel. This was made out of necessity. I had drilled the dash for different led's and could no longer locate them in that size. This covered the obsolete holes..

At one point there was a set of car skates in the shop that had one bent up pretty bad, so I took the material off and whipped up some pedal covers. The dead pedal is aluminum angle.

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I'm not saying I'm Batman. I'm just saying we've never been seen in the same room before.

The original style door latches were flimsy on a good day. Picked up some mini-bear claws and got after some more ali angle with a dremel and drill, then sunk them into the doors

The kit came without hood hinges and I wasn't really thrilled by the ones being offered. They just looked too modern. Spent quite a while staring at this and at one point I was set to do a tilt front end. Still really want it but decided the extra body work wasn't worth it. So I found a great supplier on Ebay ( I'll dig up the name ) and order up some flat stock and u-channel and came up with this..

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I'm not saying I'm Batman. I'm just saying we've never been seen in the same room before.

There is a trunk hinge that matches the hood hinge but it still needs trimming and I haven't gotten a good pic of it yet. I also cleaned up that hood hinge on the belt sander since those pics. One of the things that has always bothered me on this car is the belts. There is a tab welded to the frame in the trunk that the harness bolts to, then it passes through the rear bulkhead into the cockpit. My issue is that it exits the bulkhead roughly 3-4 inches below my shoulders. No good. There are cross bars that will bolt to the rollbar or some weld them in, but I've always thought it cluttered up the lines of the car and I didn't want to buy new belts. So more aluminum chips...Just ahead of the bracket and above the silver cross bar, you can see the hole peeking out where the belts originally passed through. The bracket directs them up through the body between the rollbar legs and puts them above my shoulders..

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I'm not saying I'm Batman. I'm just saying we've never been seen in the same room before.

That thing is fantastic. I have seen some of this in person (many years before this point) and it is top class work. I have seen the race shop where Hyper worked and have seen some of his handy work. He is a natural at this. This car, when finished, will be something pretty special. That in itself, is a strong statement as there are quite a few Cobra replicas out there. His will stand out.

Thanks man. You are part to blame for my disease. Some of those projects we worked on helped get me to the point of being willing and confident enough to dive into stuff. It is tough to stand out amongst the sea of Cobras. I still frequently see ones over on FFcars that blow me away, but many of them have double and triple what I have invested. There are still lots of things I would do differently if starting over now, but most of it can be addressed down the road. I hope everyone enjoys the pics. I'm usually pretty underwhelmed by the response I get on the Cobra forum. The mentality seems to be to ignore anything non-traditional. I certainly appreciate a well executed period correct replica, but I prefer to pay homage to yesterday while taking advantage of today. I like to think of it more along the lines of "what would they have done then if they had known what we know now". Anyway, more pics to come.

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I'm not saying I'm Batman. I'm just saying we've never been seen in the same room before.

Since I've moved 3 times since I started this thing, I have inevitably lost and broken some parts. One of the most infuriating was when I picked up a headlight box and it felt out the bottom, lens down. The car came with Euro spec Hellas that had the integrated parking lamp inside. They have to be ordered from the UK. I liked them, but decided to go with something a little brighter and ended up with these tri-bars from Speedway. This is also gives a good look at the hood scoop. The combo of my poly motor mounts, phenolic spacer, and larger TB had the hood hitting the motor so a new scoop was needed to make clearance. Didn't so much need height as width and I wanted it to be subtle. This is one of my favorite scoop styles. It is from a 97 SS Z28. I think part of why I like it is that it is similar to a NACA duct and I thin it compliments the lines of the car and actually looks more at home than the original rivet on scoops...

Here you can sort of see the brushed finish of the trim here. It doesn't stand out ( part of the point ) but I also modded the headlight and turn signal housing to tuck them as close and clean to the body as possible...

After doing that, and also after looking at the body without them for so long, the tail lights were bothering me. They seemed very afterthought and didn't flow with the lines. I went back and forth with what to do and was headed down this road for a bit...

But the lights were still too big for the mounting surface ( not a big deal ) but the curvature of the fender down to the top light needed work. The only thing I could think was to move them down so that line would flow. It would look better, but I was concerned with moving the brake lights lower out of the line of sight of the sheeple on the road....

A simple request for some measurements netted a free pair of the LED lights that Factory Five supplies with their new 33 Hot Rod kit. It will take just a little bit of smoothing under the light, but I think it fits my theme better and these things are "OMG I looked right at them" bright. And the housing is chromed billet ...

Here's a comparison.

I'll have to find something to use them on. Before I got the led's I had decided to add a halo led inside each light to use as either the turn signal or brake light which would have given me 4 separate brake and 4 separate turn signals. Would look pretty cool I think, but the oval light just fits so much better. I did have to use a trailer wire adapter to make it function as a run/brake/turn, but that was pretty simple and cheap.

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I'm not saying I'm Batman. I'm just saying we've never been seen in the same room before.

The layout of the trunk panels as delivered needed some work to be more functional. I added a storage compartment with hinged lid, an access panel for the fuel tank, and a pair of hinged lids for the battery compartment which now serves as access to the adjustable roll center of the Watts link....

The watts required an offset battery box to clear the spindle. Since this pic, I have trimmed the top of the outer vertical panels. This is known as the "drop butt mod". It drops the body of the car from the wheelwells back. This eliminates the trademark Factory Five "perky butt" and hides the fuel tank better.

You can see the roll bar mounts here. The car was originally equipped with just the driver and my wife didn't think it was funny when I told her to duck when she asked where her's was. I'm very proud of the fit of the passenger roll bar. It matches the driver in height and angle perfectly and even installs easier. But then I changed them Actually I just have a second set now. The driver side here is the original bar. It's 2" and very tall and straight and beefy and as you can see it has a detachable third leg for installation, which leaves a seam and exposed hardware depending on the install method...

The passenger bar is 1 3/4" and about 2 1/2" lower and it angles back slightly more. It doesn't seem like much, but it really changes the overall look of the car. It also eliminates the seam and hardware since it is welded. These are the ones shown in the first pick of the car. The safety police ( wife ) had already complained about the reduction in height, but it's still taller than my head and I haven't flipped a car yet. I will be making them interchangeable for track days though as a helmet would be higher

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I'm not saying I'm Batman. I'm just saying we've never been seen in the same room before.

I'd been scratching my head for awhile about the transition from the vinyl on the trans tunnel to the carpet on the bulkhead. There is a removable panel at the back to access the driveshaft and I wanted to keep it removable but clean. After searching some build threads I saw a car with a nice custom console that had an integrated armrest/glove box. OK!I had material left form the dash and trans tunnel and also a flat sheet of delrin/pvc type material. So I cut the main shape of the sides out of the plastic ( it's about 3/8"-1/2" thick). Then I cut aluminum to match and used it to sandwich the edges of the vinyl after covering them. The lid is aluminum riveted to plastic ribs cut to the shape of the side panels. Some egg crate foam puffs it up nice and cushy and a little carpet inside finishes it out. I'm planning to mount it to the tunnel with velcro. All the carpet is velcroed in for easy removal and the soft side of the velcro is a perfect match to the carpet. Dumb luck on that one.

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I'm not saying I'm Batman. I'm just saying we've never been seen in the same room before.

Had one of those days awhile back where I just couldn't take the mess in the shop anyone. While I was cleaning up, I found a shell casing form the first time I shot a Colt .45 Single Action revolver which happened to be at my bachelor party. I felt it deserved more than hiding in a drawer of the toolbox. Now I get to see it often and it reflects the emotions I feel when I have to use it...

It's the horn button...

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I'm not saying I'm Batman. I'm just saying we've never been seen in the same room before.

Can't think of the brand right now, but I'm using the clear made for wheels. Ought to be pretty durable. Of course remembering which pieces are done and which aren't is another story...It is another reason I've done the brushed finish opposed to polishing. If it gets bad, just hit it with the scotchbrite.

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I'm not saying I'm Batman. I'm just saying we've never been seen in the same room before.